October 23, 2017 1:59pm EDTOctober 23, 2017 9:33am EDTBraun Strowman got thrown in a garbage truck, Kurt Angle is a member of the Shield, Mickie James is not that old and more thoughts from WWE TLC.WWE superstars Finn Balor and AJ Styles(WWE.com)

The results from WWE TLC 2017 leave us with just a sole thought: Well that was... something.

What Worked

The strangest main event in recent WWE history

Let's be honest, on paper this TLC main event was always going to be seen as an odd creation. When Roman Reigns was involved, the 5-on-3 setup served as both the Shield's triumphant return while also working as a callback to the trio's bizarre 11-on-3 matches from their original run. It would've been a fun match with a similar ending and set us up for the eventual breakup (this time it being Dean who turns heel) around the holidays in order to preserve the Roman vs. Brock Lesnar rematch we're destined (or doomed) to get at WrestleMania 34.

But then Roman gets yanked from the match and we get the added wrinkle of Kurt Angle having his first match in a WWE ring in 11 years.

So you've got 2/3 of a trio and a returning legend against the leader of a faction without his henchmen, an established tag team, an unstoppable monster and the mayoral candidate for Knox County, Tenn. fighting in the only gimmick match of the night. There was no way this wouldn't be a cluster.

Credit where it's due, the match had some fun spots. The stereo jumping off the ladders through the announce tables was cool, everybody got at least one moment to show off a cool spot and Kurt Angle's face walking down to the ring in Shield gear was one of the purest forms of joy I've ever seen. Just look how happy he is!

Unfortunately the match also crossed over from looking like a train wreck into an outright fever dream. Kane accidentally hits Braun with a chair, the two start get in each other's face only to forget about it until Kane attacks Braun about 10 minutes later.

Which then leads to Braun coming back and rebelling against everybody, leading to the his team deciding to throw him in a garbage truck and pull the lever... which is made to compact the garbage together meaning theoretically they tried to kill Strowman. And it's never mentioned again.

The match also clocked in at 35 minutes, 25 seconds. There's a good seven-eight minute chunk in the middle that's just Dean and Seth getting the tar beaten out of them while waiting for Angle to make his triumphant return. I get that they like this spot now where somebody gets hurt and helped to the back only to make a run-out at the end, but this one felt like it dragged a little too long.

Overall, this match was bonkers. Hopefully we get the Shield reunion we're promised down the road (I'll be overjoyed if that's now the plan for 'Mania) and Angle stays far away from taking crazy bumps like this in the future. Let him wrestle a simple one-on-one match at the big four pay-per-views, he can still go in those.

A Bullet Club battle

Oh my sweet lord that AJ Styles-Finn Balor match was awesome. In just 18 minutes the two put on a clinic that put the rest of the roster to shame.

Here's how the story of this broke down:

The two spend the first few minutes measuring each other out, leading to the veteran AJ getting impatient that Finn is just warming up.

The two each introduce sequences and holds we don't see every week on "RAW" and "SmackDown Live", giving it the "big-fight feel" it deserves.

The two pull out some big spots, then crank up the intensity by trading shots ala a Japanese strongstyle match.

Finn breaks out the 1916 (aka Bloody Sunday), one of his go-to finishers in New Japan that AJ adopted once he took over Bullet Club.

Styles also goes for both the Styles Clash and Phenomenal Forearm but Finn is able to block both, indicating the history these two have.

AJ, again playing the veteran in the story, catches Balor going to for his finisher with an insane Pele kick with Finn on the top rope

But because he's in Demon form, Finn has an extra level of speed and gains the upper hand. He dodges AJ's 450, one of Styles' four potential finishers, then nails his Slingblade-Shotgun Dropkick-Coup de Grace for the win.

This match didn't just have cool spots, it had layers upon layers of storytelling to it. In a perfect world I'd want these two to have a Tanahashi-Okada type of feud, one that adds a new wrinkle in match after match. This isn't that perfect world, but the next pay-per-view is all about "RAW" vs. "SmackDown Live"...

And there's also this.

So please, let's have these two lock up again sooner rather than later.

Oh and since we're here let's address the elephant in the room: While it's unfortunate that Bray Wyatt is out with an illness, there is no world where his "Sister Abigail" persona could've delivered a match nearing the same quality as this one. Hopefully when he comes back (no idea what the timetable is on that) they just forget about the gimmick and his feud with Finn as a whole.

Nobody is ready

From the moment she left NXT, I was a little worried about Asuka. WWE doesn't have a perfect track record when it comes to transferring stars from developmental up to the main roster, and seeing such a successful act like her be treated like so many other women on the roster would've felt like a monumental missed opportunity.

Asuka showed up on Sunday night with the exact same vibe she always had in NXT. She's enigmatic and goofy with her entrance, but she has a dangerously quick and brutal offense the bell rings. Once she locked in the Asuka Lock, you knew it was over.

And yet, James' entire story leading up to her title match with Alexa Bliss was about how old she was. It always came off as mean-spirited, especially since the commentators kept pointing out her age as if they were on Bliss' side. Also, the "you're getting old" angles for the male wrestlers are saved for when guys are well into their 40s, so it's a lousy double-standard.

Oh, and the match was just okay.

Second verse, same as the first

So it turns out Kalisto's championship win on "RAW" was just to give him the Akira Tozawa treatment and quickly drop the belt back to Enzo Amore. I'm not as upset as last time since they're clearly making Enzo the centerpiece of "205 Live", but the match was just as bland as Amore's initial win over Neville.

There was also a tag match involving the cruiserweights. It wasn't all that interesting.

Flying produce

What's next

The next pay-per-view coming up is Survivor Series, and by all accounts it sounds like they're cranking up the "SmackDown" vs. "RAW" aspect even further this year.

Based on the discussion during "RAW Talk", we'll get standard 5-on-5 elimination match for both men and women from both brands. Which means Alexa Bliss is saved from Asuka's wrath for at least a month.

We'll also get Lesnar vs. Jinder Mahal. I feel bad for Paul Heyman, who will be forced to cut promos trying to get people excited for that.

If WWE is smart they'll feed off the hype from tonight with a Styles-Balor rematch.

Other feuds I can see them building to after tonight are Braun vs. Kane, Angle vs. Miz (though that might be later down the road) and Enzo vs. Mustafa Ali. Your guess is as good as mine as who is in the titular elimination tag matches.